


The Fall

by sunaddicted



Series: Superbat October Drabbles [4]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Angst, Chases, Crime Fighting, Head Injury, Injury, M/M, Rain, Rescue, Worry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-04
Updated: 2018-10-04
Packaged: 2019-07-25 05:05:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16190681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunaddicted/pseuds/sunaddicted
Summary: "Batsy baby, you're getting slow in your old age!"





	The Fall

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Awakening](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16155815) by [sunaddicted](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunaddicted/pseuds/sunaddicted). 



> Prompt: rescue 
> 
> This can be read both as a standalone and as a prequel to the first fic in this series, "Awakening"

_The Fall_

Bruce was used to the weather in Gotham being terrible: saying that the sun never shone upon his city might have sounded like an hyperbole, but it was true enough that Gothamites started complaining about the heat and the sunlight as soon as a little bit filtered from the thick wads of clouds scattered through the sky and while Bruce didn't vocally express his displeasure with higher temperatures, he was no exception to the rule.

Gotham was grey skies, strong winds, endless rainy nights that morphed into equally endless rainy days - that was what everyone was used to.

What Batman was used to.

Still, despite all the practice with jumping from one slick roof to another, it didn't mean that the rain could become an unexpected enemy; especially when the city started to flood and even his Rogues weren't that inclined to get their shoes wet in the name of mayhem.

Except for the Joker.

As always.

The man was crazy enough that he skidded along the rooftops without caring for the water that welled up to his ankles and sloshed down the façades of the buildings, too deranged to realise that he was putting his own life on the line - that one wrong step or a too string gust of wind would be enough to make him rush to his death.

Bruce didn't want to explore too deeply what it meant that he too was out in such weather, grappling from one gargoyle to another, trying to outrun the Joker who wouldn't actually find around anyone to hurt during such nights. Nor did he want to linger on the fact that he seemingly couldn't let the man die, despite all the lives he'd taken - despite the death he'd brought in his family; despite the boy he'd broken; despite the father-son bonds he'd ruined.

Batman shook his head, droplets of water flying around: no, it definitely wasn't the time to think about such things and getting distracted.

"Batsy baby, you're getting slow in your old age!"

Maybe he was but still not old enough that he wouldn't manage to catch the bastard and drag him back to Arkham, hoping that it would hold him in longer than the previous times.

Ideally, for forever.

Batman growled as he lunged, egged on by the villain's shrilly voice and hysterical laughter, and his gloved hand closed on the empty air where a second before there had been the tails of the Joker's purple jacket.

The miss made the blood in his veins run hotter, annoyance taking a hold of his control - it wasn't wise and he would have chewed out any of his kids if he had caught them losing their focus during patrol, but Bruce had never claimed he wasn't a bit of an hypocrite.

He just didn't admit it out aloud.

He barely admitted it to himself, really.

The Joker laughed again and the thunder drowned it out, so loud and so close that Bruce could feel the surface of the roof tremble under his feet and the reverberation climbed its way up his legs, nestling in his bones - mercilessly rattling them. Gotham was old, its grandiose and gothic buildings were built upon sandy earth that once had belonged to the ocean - constantly on the verge of crumbling to dust like a sand castle left to dry under the scorching sun.

Another thunder shook the earth and Bruce's heartbeat skyrocketed when he lost his footing and he knew he was going to fall: the stones were too slick for him to get a grip on them and the soaked cape had wrapped so tightly around him that he didn't manage to grab his grapple gun.

The last thing he saw before he hit the pavement, it was a crimson flash whipping in the wind.

* * *

Clark had been relaxing in the shower when suddenly Bruce's heartbeat had spiralled out of control; it had been quick for a while and Clark hadn't worried too much because even then it had been steady, Bruce probably running after some villain or another. From the experience that came from fighting side by side with Batman, Clark knew that Bruce's heart rarely beat so frantically - only when someone was in danger or a plan suddenly went spectacularly wrong.

He didn't even stop to rinse the shampoo from his hair; Clark speedily slipped into his costume and flew straight to Gotham, unable to hear anything else but Bruce's heart, the Joker's sobbing laughter, the thunderous rushing of water, the sickening crack of bone meeting the hard ground...

Bruce had fallen.

Even if he didn't want to do anything else but get to Bruce and make sure that the other man was alright, that he wasn't hurt too badly - but he knew that Bruce would have wanted him to get a hold of the Joker first and Clark didn't lose any time grabbing the stull running man; he usually would use more finesse but he didn't have any calm left in himself and he just knocked the Joker out and called the GCPD to retrieve the passed out man.

Bruce.

Bruce.

"Bruce?" He asked, kneeling in a puddle of dirty rain "Bruce?"

No answer came.

Only silence.

And the smell of blood in the water.

Clark wrapped Bruce in his cape and gathered him close to his chest, even if he wasn't too thrilled about moving the man when it was clear that he had a concussion - but he couldn't leave him there, he needed to bring him home where Alfred would take care of him "You'll be alright" Clark reassured, curling a little over Bruce's body to protect him from the cold and the rain "You'll be alright, I promise"


End file.
